For anyone who didn't follow the many paths
Costello
treaded during the '90s,
Extreme Honey: The Very Best of Warner Brothers Years
is a good way to become acquainted with the strangest portion of his career. Like the
Warner
years themselves,
Extreme Honey
is flawed, suffering from the same idiosyncratic compiling method as
Girls! Girls! Girls!
There are a number of hits and singles, to be sure (
"Veronica,"
"So Like Candy,"
"Sulky Girl,"
"13 Steps Lead Down,"
"The Other Side of Summer"
), but the bulk of the album consists of album tracks. This isn't necessarily bad, since many of
's best songs weren't singles, but the problem is,
doesn't necessarily contain his best songs from the era. There are a number of great moments here, whether it's the lilting
"The Birds Will Still Be Singing"
from the underrated
Juliet Letters
or the New Orleans-inflected
"Deep Dark Truthful Mirror,"
but the forced cacophony of
"Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over)"
merely indicates how he was prone to excess during this era. And that leaves
in a weird position -- it accurately conveys the spirit of
's
recordings, but it only has a portion of his best work from those albums. Nevertheless, the fact that it captures the feeling of
's '90s recordings makes it a worthwhile sampler for the curious who don't want to delve into the actual albums. [In order to entice collectors and die-hard fans,
contains
"My Dark Life,"
's collaboration with
Brian Eno
originally on
The X-Files
soundtrack, and the new track
"The Bridge I Burned,"
a neo-psychedelic/
trip-hop
number constructed from backing tapes recorded with his son and
Supergrass
drummer
Danny Goffey
once
Prince
denied him the permission to alter the lyrics to
"Pop Life."
] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine